BoJack Horseman is an American adult animated tragicomedy television series created by Raphael Bob-Waksberg. It stars the voices of Will Arnett, Amy Sedaris, Alison Brie, Paul F. Tompkins, and Aaron Paul. Set primarily in Hollywood, the series revolves around the anthropomorphic horse BoJack Horseman (Arnett), a washed-up star of a 1990s sitcom who plans a return to relevance with an autobiography to be written by ghostwriter Diane Nguyen (Brie). It also chronicles his contentions with his agent, Princess Carolyn (Sedaris), former rival Mr. Peanutbutter (Tompkins), roommate Todd Chavez (Paul), and his declining mental health. The series is designed by cartoonist Lisa Hanawalt, a longtime friend to Bob-Waksberg who previously collaborated on the webcomic Tip Me Over, Pour Me Out.
The series premiered on Netflix on August 22, 2014. On September 20, 2018, Netflix renewed the show for its sixth and final season, and the series ended on January 31, 2020, with a total of 77 episodes. The first five seasons consist of 12 episodes each, while the sixth and final season consists of 16 episodes divided into two parts of eight episodes each. A one-off Christmas special was also released on December 19, 2014.
BoJack Horseman received mixed reviews upon release. However, critics were significantly more positive towards the second half of the first season, and the subsequent seasons received widespread critical acclaim; praise was given to its animation, voice acting, humor, mature themes, character development, emotional weight, writing and approach to its subject matter, which explores depression, trauma, abortion, adoption, addiction, self-destructive behavior, suicide, racism, sexism, speciesism, teen pregnancy, sexuality, and the human condition. Since its conclusion, the show has been hailed as one of the greatest television series of all time and appeared on several "best-of" television lists by various publications.
The series received numerous accolades, including four Critics' Choice Television Awards for Best Animated Series, three Annie Awards and two Writers Guild of America Awards. It has also received three Primetime Emmy Award nominations including Outstanding Animated Program twice and Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance for Kristen Schaal.
Premise The series is set in an alternate world where humans and anthropomorphic animals live side by side, taking place mostly in Hollywood (renamed to "Hollywoo" early in the first season after the D is stolen from the sign). BoJack Horseman is the washed-up star of the fictional 1990s sitcom Horsin' Around, which centered around a young bachelor horse trying to raise three human children who had been orphaned.
Now living in relative obscurity in his Hollywood Hills mansion, BoJack plans a monumental comeback to celebrity relevance with a tell-all autobiography to be written by ghostwriter Diane Nguyen. At the same time, he deals with his addiction to alcohol and other drugs, and the resulting recklessness. BoJack also has to contend with the demands of his agent and former girlfriend Princess Carolyn, the misguided antics of his freeloading roommate Todd Chavez, and the upbeat personality of his former rival Mr. Peanutbutter.
Cast and characters
Will Arnett as BoJack Horseman, a self-loathing, cynical, alcoholic horse currently in his 50s, whose acting career peaked when he starred in a successful 1990s family sitcom called Horsin' Around. Though he began as a bright-eyed young actor, he has since grown bitter, deeply depressed, and jaded towards and who he has become post-fame. BoJack has been shown to be caring and insightful, but his insecurities, loneliness, desperate need for approval, and guilt over his own actions often result in self-destructive and selfish actions which devastate those around him. His past and present relationships with his abusive, alcoholic parents and his attempts at overcoming their legacy are a continual theme of the series. Amy Sedaris as Princess Carolyn, a pink Persian cat who is BoJack's agent in the first three seasons and former on-and-off girlfriend. Hailing from Eden, North Carolina, Princess Carolyn was a top agent at Vigor agency before leaving to start a new agency with her then-boyfriend and coworker Rutabaga Rabitowitz. She ultimately decides to leave him and run the new company named VIM by herself. After several setbacks, Princess Carolyn closes VIM in season 3, only to reopen it as a management agency. She struggles throughout the series in starting a family and suffers several miscarriages. In season 5, after several failed attempts, she successfully adopts a baby porcupine called Ruthie from pregnant teen, Sadie, a young woman from her hometown. In the series finale, she marries Judah, her assistant. Alison Brie as Diane Nguyen, a Vietnamese-American third-wave feminist from Boston. She is hired as a ghostwriter for BoJack's memoir, and throughout the show she has several jobs involving writing. Diane and BoJack develop a strong friendship that initially becomes awkward and strained after BoJack develops romantic feelings for her, especially as she was dating Mr. Peanutbutter at the time. She eventually marries Mr. Peanutbutter, but they divorce at the beginning of season 5. She eventually realizes she has depression, and gains weight as her mental health improves due to antidepressants; news media celebrated the series' realistic portrayal of her changing body shape as a sign of improved health. During the sixth season, Diane develops a relationship with a bison named Guy (whom she goes on to wed) and comes to terms with her neglectful upbringing. She is a graduate of Boston University. Paul F. Tompkins as Mr. Peanutbutter, an energetic, optimistic and cheerful yellow Labrador Retriever who is BoJack's former sitcom rival. Mr. Peanutbutter was the star of Mr. Peanutbutter's House, which, according to BoJack, "borrowed the premise" from Horsin' Around. Despite their rivalry, Mr. Peanutbutter cares a great deal about BoJack's opinion and admires him for his work on Horsin' Around. He has an especially good relationship with Todd, and his positive attitude and financial resources combined with Todd's outlandish schemes and plans often result in the two starting questionable business ventures. Mr. Peanutbutter has been married three times (to Katrina Peanutbutter, Jessica Biel and Diane Nguyen). After his divorce with Diane, he begins a relationship with a waitress named Pickles. He is a graduate of Northwestern University and a native of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. Aaron Paul as Todd Chavez, an unemployed 24-year-old human who ended up at BoJack's house for a party five years before the beginning of the series and never left. Despite constantly voicing disdain for Todd, Bojack continues to support him financially and sabotages Todd's attempts to gain independence. Todd has been shown to possess a plethora of skills including writing and composing his own rock opera, which was eventually sabotaged by BoJack. This and other examples of BoJack's poor behavior towards him lead Todd to break ties with BoJack in season 4. He eventually becomes Princess Carolyn's assistant, and babysitter for her daughter, Ruthie. He realizes in the season 3 finale "That Went Well" that he is asexual. In season 6, Todd forms a relationship with a rabbit named Maude who is also asexual.
Episodes
Production Conception After moving to Los Angeles for the first time, writer Raphael Bob-Waksberg unsuccessfully pitched ideas for shows to different networks. Among them was the idea for a family comedy set during the Reign of Terror called The Good Times Are Killing Me, which Waksberg described as "All in the Family but in France, ... where the Dad was a guillotine salesman and business was booming, but he couldn't get his wacky family in order." Around the same time, he moved into a friend's house up in the Hollywood Hills, living in what he described as "a glorified closet in a beautiful mansion". He "look[ed] out on the deck over all of Hollywood, and [felt] simultaneously on top of the world and never more isolated and alone." This was the beginning of the idea that would become BoJack Horseman.
Bob-Waksberg and illustrator Lisa Hanawalt had met in high school and the two would often joke about creating an animated series together. The two eventually went their separate ways, with Bob-Waksberg moving to Los Angeles and Hanawalt moving to New York, but stayed in touch, working together on the web comic Tip Me Over, Pour Me Out. In March 2010, Bob-Waksberg emailed Hanawalt asking for a drawing of one of the "horse-guys" she had been sketching, outlining a pitch for a show he titled "BoJack the Depressed Talking Horse". This early pitch hewed closely to the final product except for some minor differences – Todd was called Topher and was BoJack's childhood friend; Diane was a development executive instead of a ghostwriter; and Mr. Peanutbutter was BoJack's agent instead of Princess Carolyn, with his role as BoJack's rival instead filled by a horse called Honeybucket. Hanawalt joked that the concept sounded too depressing.
Development history In late 2010, Bob-Waksberg met with producer Steven A. Cohen of the Tornante Company and pitched five different animated projects, including BoJack Horseman. After the pitch, Cohen asked Bob-Waksberg which project interested him most, and Bob-Waksberg chose BoJack Horseman. He wrote up a treatment for the series which was then pitched to the Tornante Company CEO Michael Eisner, who suggested that the show center around a former racehorse rather than a former sitcom actor. While Bob-Waksberg successfully pushed for the show-business angle, this contributed to a storyline in which BoJack later played the titular racehorse in the fictional movie Secretariat in the show's second season.
Hanawalt was approached to come on board to design the show. She initially turned down the offer. "I'd just finished illustrating a children's book and it was kind of a bad experience. It took six months of work and felt endless, and I didn't want to commit to another big project. I made the mistake of not jumping aboard a good thing". Production went ahead with various other artists coming on board to design the show and characters, but none captured Hanawalt's unique style. Six months later, Hanawalt was again approached to design the show, and this time agreed. She then worked with animation production studio ShadowMachine to develop the show's visual style. The production team put together a brief pilot presentation of the show which was used to shop the show to networks.
Bob-Waksberg and the team eventually pitched to Netflix in October 2013, and the show was picked up on the condition that the series launch in time for summer 2014. As a result, the 12-episode first season was produced in just 35 weeks; the first three episodes were written by Bob-Waksberg before a full writing staff were hired, and the first table read was held in the first week of production. The original plan had been to use the footage from the original pilot presentation in the season's first episode; however, the decision was made to start from scratch (partially due to the decision to completely redesign the character of Todd Chavez from the way he appeared in the pilot).